The Freedom of Public Information Law Takes Force Today

en.hukumonline.com | Friday, April 30, 2010 - After two years of waiting for subjects of Law No. 14 of 2008 on Freedom of Public Information to comply with the Law’s provisions, the time to do so is finally due today (30/4). The ‘Public Institutions,’ as those subjects are termed by the Law, are now legally bound to provide any information requested by the public, except certain information classified as confidential. This, of course, requires the Public Institutions to sort out all of their information.

Though the effective implementation of the Law is tomorrow, 1 May 2010, Chairperson of the Central Public Information Commission, Alamsyah Saragih still urges Public Institutions that have not categorized their information to immediately comply.

“Public Institutions must…identify which information that can and cannot be provided to the public,” Mr. Saragih said after conducting a meeting with the President at his office in Jakarta today (30/4), as quoted by TempoInteraktif.

A Public Institution under the Law is defined as the executives, legislatives, and judicial bodies; any other bodies whose functions relate to the implementation of state-related matters, whose funding is partially or wholly derived from the State or Regional Budgets, or; any other non-governmental bodies whose funding is partly or wholly sourced from the State or Regional Budgets, public, and / or overseas.

The definition, however, is not short of controversy. A number of entities, chiefly state enterprises, have shown their resistance for being categorized as a Public Institution and be bound by the obligations that the status entails. The state enterprises argued that the ‘openness,’ as obligated by the Law, may hamper their businesses.    

Nevertheless, aside from the state enterprises front, other Public Institutions have prepared and welcomed the implementation of the Law. Few amongst these Public Institutions are two law enforcement bodies: the National Police Force and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Head of the Public Relations Division for the Police Force, Darwin Butar-Butar spoke in a talk show in Jakarta yesterday (29/4) that the Police Force has prepared four Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) drafts that will regulate the Police Force’s provision of information as mandated by the Law.

Mr. Butar-Butar explained that the SOP, which will be contained in a Police Force Regulation, was formulated after receiving inputs from all working units within the Police Force. These inputs, he continued, includes information that are and are not barred from being publicized.

Information that can be provided by the Police Force would include, as illustrated by Mr. Butar-Butar, working plans, the previous year’s remaining budget that is to be used in the ongoing year (DIPA), and other information about the Police Force’s works. Meanwhile, he added, information relating to an investigated case will have to be considered as confidential.

KPK Deputy Chairperson, M. Jasin also pointed out that the KPK will not reveal any information regarding an under-investigated case, as it may hamper KPK’s effort to unravel its investigation over a case, he argued and basing his argument on Article 17 of the Freedom of Information Law.

Mr. Jasin mentioned that the ‘whistle blower’, witness, and victim’s identities will be classified as confidential information as well.  Moreover, the definition of confidential in the context of KPK extends to other information that could endanger the Commission’s staff and their families.

The KPK has also set up a SOP to contain that information, Mr. Jasin concluded.

Abdul Razak Asri / Muhammad Iqsan Sirie